DVDs

Kirk Whalum The Gospel According to Jazz, Chapter IV – Film/DVD Running time: 148 minutes Rendezvous Music (release date: May 19, 2015) www.kirkwhalum.com By Bob Marovich Whether you did or did not purchase the CD version of Kirk Whalum’s The Gospel According to Jazz, Chapter IV when it was released this past March, you will enjoy the DVD version of the concert, set for release this Tuesday. The DVD captures the Chapter IV concert at the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, New York. Live performance segments are interspersed with conversations with Whalum on a variety of subjects, from being a musician to the spirit ...

Brother’s Keeper Desert Wind Films In Theaters May 29, 2015 www.brotherskeeperfilm.com By Bob Marovich Faith-inspired films can sometimes come off as one-dimensional as Hallmark made-for-TV movies. Not so Brother’s Keeper. Directed by T. J. Amato and Josh Mills and released by Desert Wind Studios, Brother’s Keeper employs a smart and ever-unfolding storyline by Mills and Briana Hartman to underscore the significance of forgiveness and the redemptive power of suffering. Brother’s Keeper is set in late 1950s Georgia. Twin brothers Andy and Pete Goodwynn (played by Graham and Alex Miller, respectively) lost their parents tragically as young children and are the only family ...

Filmmaker Lisa Eismen is seeking the help of the gospel and blues community. Time is running out with only 6 days left to help her fund this inspirational film about women artists. By Bob Marovich (Sponsored Post) Growing up in the Chicago suburb of Westmont, Lisa Eismen soaked in the impromptu jam sessions that her blues performer father orchestrated in the family’s living room. “Our living room was very small,” she reflected, “but we had a baby grand piano in it and my dad would bang out the blues.” Relatives stopped by and they would perform together as a family. ...

By Bob Marovich, Journal of Gospel Music “Good things can still come out of Detroit.” This comment, from Let’s Have Some Church Detroit Style, might as well serve as the documentary’s subtitle. Directed by Michigan filmmaker Andrew Sacks, Let’s Have Some Church Detroit Style tells the story of Dr. E. LaQuint Weaver II and The Hallelujah Singers, a 25-member community choir from Detroit nominated in 2014 for nine Rhythm of Gospel Awards, including the highest honor, CD of the Year. The film explores the personal lives of Weaver and his choristers while chronicling the group’s preparation to attend the awards ...

“Thicker than Water” Season Two begins Sunday, January 4, 2015, 9:00 p.m. ET/PT Bravo Media www.nbcunv.com/bravo By Bob Marovich If last season’s premiere of the Tankard Family’s reality television show, “Thicker Than Water,” was about lifestyle, the opener of the second season is about life. The opening episode, to air this evening, opens with the wealthy extended family of gospel jazz artist Ben Tankard preparing for daughter Cyrene’s high school graduation party at the self-proclaimed Tankard Palace in Murfreesboro, Tennessee (although I think I heard son Benji refer to it, with tongue in cheek, as “Bentown”). Several Tankard children rue, ...